View full sizeFrank Ockenfels/AMCThe men and women of "Mad Men" returned from a lengthy absence in Sunday night's Season 5 premiere, "A Little Kiss."

As the long-awaited "Mad Men" Season 5 season premiere begins, it's the Tuesday after the Memorial Day holiday in 1966, and everyone's getting back to work at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

But first, we have to establish what look like themes in the coming season, for which we have waited what seems like an eternity. Creator Matthew Weiner, who wrote the two-hour season opener, has said he likes to include elements in the first episode of the season that we're likely to see recur in the finale. So what do have to look forward to? Here's my scorecard:

* The civil rights movement is in full swing: The Season 5 opener, "A Little Kiss," is bookended by a pair of scenes featuring African Americans seeking equal opportunity. The second-class citizen status of minorities has been a low-burn background theme in "Mad Men" since the first episode. I wish it wasn't handled with such self-consciousness in this season-opener, though.

We begin, as we later find out, in the offices of "Y & R" (Young & Rubicam) ad agency. The young clucks working there respond to a sidewalk civil rights protest action below by dropping paper bags filled with water on the picketers. Some of the protesters enter the office to object, proclaiming, "Is this what Madison Avenue stands for?" Spotting the young dummies holding the bag, one protester says, "And they call US savages," a line that would have been clunkingly obvious in a Stanley Kramer social problems movie.

* Don's getting older: Meanwhile, we find out that Don Draper (Jon Hamm) did indeed follow through on his impulsive proposal to Megan (Jessica Pare), the secretary he -- and we -- barely knew. The couple are hosting Don's three kids, and things seem more relaxed than they did last season, though Sally takes careful note of that naked lady in her dad's bed in the morning. What does she think about all this? We'll have to wait and see. Don and oldest son Bobby -- the lowest-profile TV son since Richie Petrie -- have one of their infrequent conversations. Don is turning 40 on June 1 (though in reality, he's been 40 for half a year, since Dick Whitman is a few months older than Don Draper). He asks Bobby, "When you're 40, how old will I be?" Bobby says, "You'll be dead." They get the kids packed up and take them back to the suburbs, where the not-seen-in-this-episode Betty Francis (January Jones) and hubby Henry live. Don doesn't want to come in. "Give Morticia and Lurch my love," he tells the kids. Henry doesn't even rate a Gomez reference.

* Things at work are unsettled: Pete (Vincent Kartheiser) seems to be the only one at the agency who has his mind on business. He's working to land Mohawk Airlines, he wants Roger's (John Slattery) office, and he wants Roger to stop trying to poach his accounts. Peggy's (Elisabeth Moss) now supervising Megan, who has moved into creative.

Peggy and Stan, the snarky art director, are trying to land Heinz, and pitch a campaign for beans that would feature special effects to create "a bean ballet." This is too arty and irrelevant for the Heinz people. "Where's the bite and smile?" And more to the point, they want their beans to be relevant. They want to appeal to the new generation of consumers, and update beans' image. Beans are the war, the Depression and bomb shelters, says a Heinz exec. They want to sell to the college kids with their hot plates and sit-ins. Peggy, frustrated, looks to Don to back her up. He sides with the Heinz men, reassuring them that they can deliver what they want: "This is a process." Peggy later says this isn't the Don she knows. He's kind and patient. "It concerns me."

* Don doesn't like surprises: If Don has married Megan to help him stay young, it could be that he doesn't have it in him to stay young. When she concocts a short-notice surprise birthday party plan, Peggy's dubious. "Men hate surprises," she tells Megan. "Don't you have 'Lucy' in Canada?" But Megan goes through with it anyway. The party, held at Don and Megan's stylish, big apartment, spotlights the different tracks the different generations are running on. Harry makes a snide crack about one of Megan's friends, an African American who seems to be gay; Bert (Robert Morse) defends the rightness of the Domino Theory as reason for escalating the Vietnam War; Harry gifts Don with a walking stick ("Oh, look, he got you a cane," Roger notes, helpful as always); Peggy's underground newspapers journo boyfriend holds forth on riots across the country, while Pete and Trudy try to change the subject; Ken Cosgrove gets his hip on by commenting/bragging that he's going to "smoke some tea" with Megan's friends; an old friend of Megan's shares this sure-to-be-revisited observation about Mrs. Draper -- "you know, she's a really good actress"; Peggy passively aggressively mentions having to leave soon since she's got to work on the Heinz pitch (on a Saturday night?); and then comes the centerpiece...

View full sizeRon Jaffe/AMCIs Don Draper smiling, or is that his soul leaving his body?

Megan's gift for Don, which is her singing a flirtatious French ditty whose title seems to translate as "A Little Kiss" (as in all things "Mad Men"-related, there's already been scholarly exploration of the roots of this tune, which was notably performed by Sophia Loren). In this moment, we see Megan as a breath of newness -- she's vaguely European, she's comfortable with being the center of attention, she knows how to use her sex appeal to make an impression, and she's unapologetic about her sensual appeal. Don, on the other hand, seems to have a frozen expression, as all the non-gay men at the party come close to visibly drooling over Megan in her chic black minidress. She ends the number on Don's lap. Roger, very obviously jealous as hell, toasts Don, the lucky so-and-so, sharing a line that may qualify as the Roger Sterling manifesto: "As a wise man once said to me, the only thing worse than not getting what you want is someone else getting it."

* Joan and Lane bond: We know that Joan (Christina Hendricks) went through with her pregnancy, and her little bundle of joy is actually Roger's baby. Nobody else knows that, though, as her husband Greg is still gone on assignment. So Joan's Piece of Work Mother is staying to help out. Her definition of helping out seems to be undermining Joan at every turn. Joan wants to go back to work, but her mother counters that Greg won't allow her to. "Allow me?" Joan says, in a tone so sharp it could cut glass. Continuing her efforts to keep Joan at home, her mother shows her an ad in the paper -- Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is looking for applicants, because it's an equal opportunity employer. This is the ad that Roger decided to run as a prank on Y&R and the bad publicity they got from the water-balloon incident. Joan thinks it means she's being replaced. Her mother tries to rub that in, delivering what sounds like another Season Theme line: "Sometimes life makes decisions for you."

Joan shakes that off, gets herself dressed up, and takes her baby to the office, to remind one and all that she's just on leave. This visit is a comic highlight, as the men and women of the agency all react to the baby with varying degrees of delight, helplessness, confusion and discomfort. Megan coos over the baby, as Joan tells Don, it's just a matter of time. Peggy holds the baby, Kevin, like he's a grenade. In the office with Lane (Jared Harris), Joan opens up about feeling hurt that her job seems to be open and no one came to visit her. Lane, who has his own mini-plot thread going about a wallet he finds (at first, it seems he's going to nab the money to help him out of a cash-strapped circumstance, but then he's obsessing over the photo of a woman he finds in the wallet), reassures Joan that they need her. The accounts are a mess, he says. She cries, and says nobody came to visit her. He says there would have been a cake but she wasn't there to arrange it. The moment is warm and as genuine as anything we've seen in the whole two hours.

* Don and Megan and sex and power: Up until now, Don has generally been the one in control when it comes to his relationships. But clearly, Megan is different. After the party, she and Don come into the office to a chorus of sarcastic or rude remarks. Behind their backs, Pete refers to them as "Masters and Johnson." Megan catches Harry crudely talking about how he'd like Megan, the "sex kitten," to get cozy with him. Roger mocks Don by singing "Frere Jacques," insisting he's not making fun of Megan, but of Don, and throwing in a casual insult of his own trophy wife, Jane, while he's at it.

Earlier in the episode, we see Don sexually harass his own wife at work. Inside his office, he demands that she open her blouse. "You're a dirty old man," she says as she complies. In the wake of the party, the sunny Megan is cloudy with unhappiness. In a tense scene with Peggy, Megan gets upset and tells her, "What's with you people? You're all so cynical. You don't smile, you smirk." Megan leaves for the day. Peggy apologizes to Don for making her crack at the party about having to go back to work, and mentions that Megan has left. Don is concerned. Peggy says she thinks Megan wants to be alone. "You don't know her at all," he snaps. Does Don know her at all, though, I wonder?

He rushes home to the apartment, where the tone shifts to an awkward blend of soft-core porn and S&M Lite. Megan is cleaning up the mess of the party, and strips down to her black lingerie to do it. Well, don't we all clean the house like that? What ensues is her taunting Don, demanding her not touch her. "You're too old. I don't need an old person. You probably couldn't do it anyway." This approach does the trick, and next thing you know, it's the aftermath and they're lying on the white carpet. Megan has the upper hand. Don says he didn't want the party because he didn't want "them" in "our home." Don loves to compartmentalize, as we know. Megan tells him that she loves going to work with him. "I don't really care about work," Don says. "I want you at work because I want you."

"I think we have to replace the rug," Megan says. Then Don delivers what feels like another Season Theme line: "Just because you see white carpet in a magazine doesn't mean it's practical." But it's beautiful, Megan says. Don says, "I've taken a lot of pictures of white carpets. You have to have 4 or 5 on hand." Is Megan the white carpet in this metaphorical scenario? Or is Don?

* The Bookend: Back at the office, the lobby is filled with African American job applicants, responding to the prank ad. Roger displays his old-fashioned, casual racism. What should they do, they wonder. "I don't know why we can't just hire one," Don says, which may be the most progressive remark he's made in his stunningly non-progressive career. A tribal-style sculpture arrives as a prank gift from Y&R with an offensive note. Lane addresses the group, reinforcing sexist stereotypes -- they're only interviewing secretaries, so the gentlemen are free to leave. Professionally dressed women drop off their resumes, as Dusty Springfield sings, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me."

Well, "Mad Men" fans? Do you think the Season 5 premiere sets a promising tone for what's to come? Feel free to share comments.